Sample Chapter

Chapter One

To my granddaughter, Abigail.

At the edge of a big city, many insects lived together
in a small village. Caterpillars lived high in the trees on
soft leaves, and ants lived underground in groups called
colonies. Other insects such as bees and butterflies
flew around overhead. In this village, a fuzzy green
caterpillar named Binky lived with her younger sister
Mabel in an old oak tree in the middle of the park.

One day, while playing in the park, Mabel told Binky
a story about how catepillars change into beautiful
butterflies. Binky thought that was wonderful! She
had always wished she could be free to fly around like
the butterflies. Binky immediately asked, "Will I be a
butterfly?"

Mabel said, "One day, Binky, you will grow to be a
beautiful butterfly like our neighbors."

Binky thought about it for a moment and replied, "No, I
won't! I don't look anything like a butterfly. I'm an ugly
green caterpillar!"

Mabel said, "Just wait. You'll see that I'm right."

Binky repeated this story to her caterpillar friends.
Binky wanted to believe the story her sister had told
her, and could hardly wait to be a butterfly!

On a sunny spring day, Binky relaxed on her favorite
leaf and dreamed about what she could do if she was
a butterfly. She dreamed of flying to the big city and
meeting new friends, flying over fields of flowers ...

... and chasing rainbows in the meadow with her friends
after it rains. But when her dream ended, Binky said to
herself, "I'm not a butterfly. I'm still a fuzzy catepillar."

While Binky was dreaming, Tilman the ant jumped up
from the ground and surprised her. He looked at Binky
and said, "What are you doing?"

"I'm dreaming about what I will do when I'm a beautiful
butterfly," replied Binky.

"You're not going to be a butterfly! You're a fuzzy green
caterpillar!" answered Tilman.

"My sister Mabel told me that one day I would be a
beautiful butterfly," said Binky.

"That's not true. Mabel was just telling you a story,"
said Tilman.

Binky was so upset that Tilman didn't believe her, she
couldn't even raise her antennae.

The next day, Binky inched her way along to the old log
where all of the young insects went to school. Tilman
was waiting for her in front of the schoolhouse.

Tilman told their classmates, "Binky thinks she's going
to be a beautiful butterfly!"

First the other insects just stared at Binky. When
Tilman began laughing, the classmates laughed too. The
insects all started to make fun of Binky. Together they
all shouted, "You're not going to be a butterfly! You're a
fuzzy caterpillar!"

Binky didn't know what to say. All she could think was
that Mabel had not told her the truth. Maybe she
wouldn't change into a beautiful butterfly someday. I'll
never be a butterfly, Binky thought sadly. Binky was so
embarrassed that she crawled back to the village as
fast as her many legs could carry her.

As she headed back to the village, Binky kept repeating
to herself, "Mabel just made up that story about
becoming a butterfly!"

Binky decided that she didn't want to face Mabel, so she
changed directions and headed for the big city. After
slowly crawling for what seemed like a very long time,
Binky finally saw the tall buildings of the big city looming
ahead.

As she entered the city, Binky soon found out that
the busy street was no place for a small, slow-moving
caterpillar.

Binky barely missed being hit by cars ... and barely
escaped being crushed by people's footsteps.

Binky was tired from the many steps she had taken to
travel to the city. Finally, in the distance, she saw one
lonely tree on a small hill. The bushy leaves blew in the
breeze. That tree looks like a great place to lie down
and rest, thought Binky.

Slowly, the exhausted little caterpillar inched her way to
the tree, curled up on a leaf, and went to sleep. What
Binky didn't know was that soon she would experience
a mysterious change! As Binky drifted off to sleep
with the hot sun shining down on her, she had a strange
feeling that she had never felt before.

As the sun rose, Binky woke up feeling that she had
slept for many days. She tried to stretch and yawn,
but she couldn't move! Frightened, Binky looked down
at what had been her long, segmented body. She was
amazed to find that while she was sleeping, a soft silk-like
blanket had formed around her.

Binky wiggled and wiggled until the fine strands of silk-like
threads unraveled around her and began to come
apart.

She took one long breath and gazed at her body. Where
were her many short legs? They were gone! In their
place was a body with beautiful wings! As she flapped
her newly acquired wings, she said, "WOW! I've changed!
Mabel was right! I'm not a fuzzy caterpillar anymore! I
did become a butterfly!"

Binky was so overjoyed with her change that she forgot
all about Tilman making fun of her sister's story. "I'm a
butterfly!" she shouted with joy. She proudly flapped her
wings as she flew over the city and started back to the
insect village. She couldn't wait to see Mabel.

When she arrived at the insect village, Mabel and Tilman
were looking up in the sky at her and smiling. Tilman
was amazed at the way Binky looked as a butterfly! He
couldn't wait to tell her how beautiful she looked and
how sorry he was that he had not believed Mabel's story.

Binky flew around Mabel and Tilman and raised her
attennae with pride. She still could not believe that
she was no longer a fuzzy catepillar but a beautiful
butterfly. She was very happy that Mabel had told her
the truth about the mysterious changes that happen to
caterpillars. Now she could fly high in the sky with her
new butterfly friends, just like she had dreamed.

Binky's Butterfly Facts

Welcome to my fact page! In order for me to be a beautiful
butterfly, I went through a process called metamorphosis. That's
a big word for the many stages of life that butterflies have to go
through in order to get their wings. I went through stages of being
an egg, larva, pupa, and now an adult. Yes, I started first as an
egg. Sometimes there are a lot of eggs and sometimes just one that
are laid on the tops of leaves.

From this tiny egg, I hatched into a small caterpillar called a larva.
Now that I am out of my egg, I really get hungry. I eat parts of
leaves that provide everything I need to grow.

Caterpillars like me face a challenge as they grow! Unfortunately,
my skin cannot grow with me! My skin has to grow larger than the
skin I had when I hatched. You might say I grow from the inside
out at least five times before I settle down to be a butterfly. Each
time I shed my outer skin, I grow another one underneath it. This is
called molting.

If you remember in the story, I went to a tree in the city and fell
asleep on a leaf. I started to feel strange and curled up with a
silk blanket around me. This stage is the last time I will lose my
caterpillar look. It's called the pupa stage. I spent ten to fourteen
days as a pupa. During this stage, I developed into a beautiful
butterfly. My wings, antennae, and mouth completely formed during
these days.

When I emerged out of this silk-spun shell, my wings were tiny
and wet. When I took a deep breath and unfolded my wings, fluid
pumped from my stomach into the veins on my wings. After the
air dried my wings, I exercised them by flapping. I then was ready
to leave the silk-spun house and fly back home. Wow, now I have
changed into an adult butterfly!

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Author Profile

Paul Mikus

Paul Mikus has served both as a teacher, elementary principal, and Elementary Director for the Indianapolis Public Schools. l He has a B.S and Ed.S from Indiana State University and an M.A.E from Ball State University. He and his wife have two grown sons and live in Indiana.This is Paul's initial book in which he balances a fictional story line and non-fictional illustrations. Teacher friendly!